Thrifty Ideas to save money

I popped to Aldi last night, the super six are plums (500g), baked potatoes (2.5Kg), peppers (3 pk), large vine tomatoes (450g), nectarines, (4 or 5) and fun sized apples (6 or 7). They are all 69p each; I had the baking potatoes. There was only one pack of nectarines left and they looked a bit mouldy. I always find apples in supermarkets taste like cardboard and so I wasn’t tempted by those either. I had a kilo of bananas instead, for 68p.

You have to shop around now if you’re on a low income or even on a typical income. The typical income is only about 8 pounds an hour, a lot less than the average of 15 pounds that is often quoted. That 15 pounds ‘average’ includes people on high incomes like the Prime Minister on 80 quid an hour. That’s low compared to 800 quid an hour for a Premier league footballer. Over the other side of  pond top earners in Hollywood earn 10,000 an hour. I can remember when Britain had a proper film industry.

Anyway, if you’re on Job Seekers Allowance and your weekly income is less than David Cameron’s hourly beer money, you might want to check out Aldi.

We have seen Nick Clegg calling for the super-rich to pay more tax on a temporary basis this week. If HMRC could stop them evading and avoiding tax then it would be on a permanent basis. We do need to make Britain more attractive to the rich, not by giving them tax breaks, but by making it a great place to make films again and offering something that they can’t get overseas. Instead of investing public money in HS 2 and an extra runway at Heathrow, we could consider something that would generate wealth like a new TV and film studio. I think that could be built with private finance, but a little public finance could make the idea more attractive. Public finance could provide planning and infrastructure. It might sound like a daft idea to build film studios with private finance and build hospitals with public finance, but it did seem to work in the past.

I have to pay my car insurance soon, without an anaesthetic too! I have tried shopping around in recent years and I can never find the same quality cover for a lower price. I will pay it cash though, because they charge an extra 10% to pay monthly. I need to try to pay my phone line rental 12 months in advance again, that will save me 60 pounds. Those 2 things will save me over 100 pounds a year, more than people on JSA get to live on in a week. I think shopping at Aldi for some of my food and stuff saves more than that. Every little helps…

I’m not a car mechanic and hate messing with it, but I can clean it myself and change things like the oil and the air filter. Magnatec oil is on offer at Halfords for 17.50 (4L) and so I might do my own oil change and change the air filter. That will be less to do when it goes in the garage for a service and MOT in November.

I’ve been giving some advice to a student on saving money. Next to the university is a Asda store which is handy, but tends to be expensive for some things. The bedding comes in SmartPrice packs and consists of a duvet cover, sheet and pillow case. If the students walk out of the city centre to Aldi, they can get a student pack of bedding that also includes a 10.5 tog duvet, pillow and mattress protector for 12.99. They will have to pass Matalan on the way, which is a great place for clothes and home ware. They have a duvet and 2 pillows for £10 at Matalan. They also have fitted sheets and duvet covers. I have to admit, it drives me nuts looking at that stuff in Matalan, so much to choose from and I can never find what I want!

I just spotted basic umbrellas at Matalan for £1.00 (reduced from £5.00) and patterned one for £2.00, they have to be worth looking at. I wanted a plain black umbrella. If you check in store and they’re still a fiver, ask and they might reduce them if you tell the assistant that they are only a pound on the website. I did that for my new blazer and got it half price.

There are more amazing blogs on a zillion ideas. Please comment. Found a bargain?

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